Advancing School Library Media Education Through Emerging Technologies at Towson University

by Syeda Shahid, MASL Member

Assistant Professor, Towson University

As we welcome the New Year, I extend my warm wishes to all our readers and take this opportunity to reflect a year marked by significant and highly productive change. One of the most meaningful developments was the implementation of major curriculum revisions within the School Library Media concentration of Towson University’s graduate program. These changes made possible through a competitive grant and sustained collaboration among faculty and grant fellows.

Over the past year, my colleagues and I worked closely to redesign the curriculum in response to the evolving role of school librarians, particularly in an era shaped by artificial intelligence and digital security. As the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) emphasizes, school librarians are uniquely positioned to lead learning communities by fostering inquiry, ethical information use, and technology-rich instructional practices aligned with learners’ needs. This guiding vision strongly informed my approach to the curriculum redesign.

The primary objective of the grant was to strengthen faculty and student capacity in three critical domains: AI literacy, cybersecurity, and computational thinking. Towson University faculty and grant fellows identified these competencies as pivotal for preparing future school library media specialists to effectively teach and serve Generation Z, Alpha and Beta learners. In response, these themes were systematically embedded across all core courses in the program. The revised curriculum aligns with national standards and is intentionally grounded in the TPACK framework, which highlights the dynamic intersection of Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), and Technological Knowledge (TK). This integrated approach supports inquiry-based instructional planning and positions future school librarians as leaders of secure, innovative, and inclusive learning environments.

The curriculum transformation has been positively received by both faculty and students. Students engaged in authentic, comparative learning experiences, examining traditional library practices such as collection development, knowledge organization, and information literacy instruction alongside AI-supported approaches to these same tasks. For many students, this marked their first exposure to AI tools within a professional library context. While they recognized the efficiency and potential of these tools, equal emphasis was placed on developing a critical understanding of their ethical and responsible use. Students learned that professional library work requires domain expertise, adherence to standards, attention to community needs, and careful authority control—elements that cannot be fully automated and must remain central to professional judgment.

Overall, these curriculum enhancements reflect Towson University’s forward-looking commitment to preparing school library media specialists for contemporary and future practice. By thoughtfully integrating emerging technologies while reinforcing professional ethics, standards, and instructional leadership, the program ensures that graduates are not only technologically proficient but also reflective practitioners equipped to navigate and lead in an AI-informed educational landscape.